#I mean... that's how I'VE always seen it since 2014 XD | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

softgrungeprophet · 1 year

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musing on movies in general, long post, do not read if you don't want my rambling opinions on cinnamontography or whatever

anyway

my kingdom for a spider-man noir movie (by which i mean Spider-Man Noir, the 1920s spider-man, but i also mean, a noir movie about spidey in general, even modern) in the vein of the Batman and other modern and neo-noir films instead of this ugly, poorly lit stuff the MCU keeps putting out

sony!! sony do you hear me?! (disney do not interact) i want black shadows and strong lighting used to lead the viewer's eye, purposefully obfuscate things, and only reveal what the movie wants the viewer to see when it wants the viewer to see it. i want to see two eye lenses and nothing else, looming in the darkness...

(tasm2 tie-in game actually did this really well, ironically; visually that game is not bad, but the menace system makes it almost unplayable for me 😔which is unfortunate cause it's clear how much more polished it is than the first game (which i enjoyed despite its tendency to crash)) (though i was disappointed they removed the auto-web button that lets you web-dodge up to a vantage point)

sony?????????

i am looking forward to the next ITSV movie, i just know that will look good as hell

this post as turned into a long ramble about cinnamontography and movies i've seen recently so if you care you can read it but otherwise XD probably not worth it

but imo birds of prey and the batman are probably the best looking live action superhero movies i've seen since 2014 (probably not a controversial statement XD) both have stellar cinematography and choreo.

batman is heavy on the blacks and stark contrasts and using the shadows to hide things until they want you to see them (thus my fave minor moment: batman materializing seemingly out of the darkness, as if he was born from it) and it really nails its aesthetic imo. i've seen some criticisms of its darkness but i feel like these are criticisms that stem from this idea that well, it's dark, therefore it's badly lit, instead of understanding the differences between bad lighting and purposeful darkness. like the difference between, you know, GoT or something and this is that in The Batman, the shadows aren't just bad lighting, they're used to frame the images, to hide certain elements until those elements need to be seen, and to establish mood and tone as what is essentially a noir movie with horror and and superhero action elements. i appreciate that, and it reminds me of the way Into the Spider-Verse uses the Kingpin's literal body to manipulate the frame and affect the cinematography, in some ways.

Birds of Prey is less heavy on the noir elements but has a lot of really good color grading for setting the mood. like the lighting in the final scenes? it's so moody and effective, and I love a good movie with good color stylization, using purples and blues and reds like yes, please do that, I'm sick of Realistic Lighting™️ (Mad Max: Fury Road also did this really well). it looks fantastic throughout and is just a very well directed action movie imo

birds of prey also has possibly the best fight scene choreography i've ever seen in a modern superhero movie, along with like... tasm2?? which also has some stellar action choreo and really fascinating set pieces and setups (basically everything involving electro was fucking sick) but like, i think BoP surpasses pretty much every live action superhero movie i've ever seen, including my fave live action spidey movies (Spider-Man 2 and TASM and TASM 2, minus the green goblin but including the clock tower) in being not just fast and frenetic and high-impact, but also being clear, concise, easy to follow, and creative. the glitter cannon stuff is so well done and was very fun to watch in the theater. The fight scenes in Birds of Prey are fun, fast, clear, and absolutely fucking brutal.

i feel like i always compare it to Black Panther, which i saw first obvs (though not in theaters), and which is a solid movie that i enjoyed for the most part, and which is indeed probably the best MCU movie in general, but I found the fight scenes in Black Panther to be muddy and somewhat difficult to follow, almost slow, despite being... technically fast? I only bring it up specifically because it was praised as being not just the best MCU film (a low bar) but also in being a Great Movie with Great Fight Scenes but... tbh i wasn't big on the fight scenes in Black Panther... though i do think it's got the best costume, hair and makeup of the entire MCU at the moment, personally. and I haven't seen 2, though I hear it's good, but the costumes also look fantastic in that, and I hope the fight choreo has improved cause those movies would be really stellar with the right action choreo imo.

like I said I just brought it up cause like, when I watched Black Panther after hearing it had these amazing fight scenes, and i finally saw them, i felt kind of... confused? like, damn maybe I just have no taste in fight scenes? i was really underwhelmed by it, like, am I missing something that other people are seeing here?? (but like i said, i enjoyed the movie, and it has great costume design) But then I saw Birds of Prey a little while later and was like, blown away by the choreography and cinematography, so I think it's just a matter of the whole designated action setpiece stuff that's going on in the MCU overall, and the way that Disney/Marvel kind of controls that aspect of their movies. i also watched Black Panther on my laptop though, so I wonder if that affected the viewing... like would Birds of Prey be less impressive on my laptop than it was on the big screen (I mean. yes, but in terms of choreo specifically would it be worse on a smaller screen? i'm inclined to say no??? but i haven't rewatched it on DVD yet... maybe i should)

the recent predator movie, Prey, also had some really good choreo and cinematography imo, though I found it suffered somewhat from the use of CGI instead of practical effects for things like the bear hunting, but, I get it, it's cheaper to use CGI than to build a fucking... animatronic bear XD but aesthetically, I think it was an attractive movie and I liked the design for the Predator in that movie a lot... the skull faceplate and general integration of bones into the design was really cool looking, and the like... juxtaposition of natural colors and warm lighting from fire etc. compared to the neon green of the predator blood and its modern technology and cloaking was so interesting, visually. also a movie with absolutely brutal violence lol

actually when i watched Prey, I watched Predators (with the s) the same day, because I was looking at lists and saw it was well-praised, and in some cases put as #2 only behind the original Predator, but... like... it's no contest. Prey is a better movie. I'm sorry if you cannot suspend your disbelief that a teenage native girl outwitted the predator w/ nothing but her environment and handmade weapons but I think the movie sold that really well and showed that she was learning and adapting the entire time, and showed how close she came to dying not just from the predator but from the bear and other animals as well, numerous times. I think it was as convincing as any other "human beats predator" movie can be. and like the other movies, a lot of the humans trying to fight it did die. like... i don't think adrien brody's character in Predators is any more or less convincing as a character using his wits to beat an adversary that is more physically powerful and more technologically advanced than him.

Prey is a better movie imo

Predators was fine, and you know I love topher grace being a weird little guy, but it's simply not a contest lol. it was effective in making you hate most of the characters though, so it did that well XD except of course the most interesting character died, so, whatever. Predators gave me the vibe of a movie that was like, OKAY WE HAVE THE BUDGET FOR THESE BIG NAME ACTORS, we GOT morpheus from the matrix, we GOT machete himself—but we only got the budget for five minutes of screen time so they are going to die immediately unfortunately XD

i also thought the romance was dumb but what else is new lmao

and prey feels like a movie that's not trying to just be big explosions with a famous guy but like, telling a story with characters that know each other already and telling a story about not just overcoming seemingly impossible obstacles and enemies but also about proving oneself, and being true to oneself, and also about how french people suck

anyway boy this ended up being one long ramble about movies i've seen over the past couple years huh

just musing, thinking,

hey man you know what other movie ruled? pacific rim. that's a movie with character design, mood and setting. hell yeah.

i didn't hate the sequel as much as some people but i did think it was lacking a lot of the mood and character of the first (though the mechs looked nice) and while i found the actual plugsuits better designed i thought the helmets were less visually appealing without actual glass visors, and i think its plot would have been better if instead of icing mako they had instead made the plot about her and her brother's relationship instead of playing him off of some bland white dude (though the obvious bisexuality on display was funny)... having mako be the only person he can drift with would have been way more interesting to me tbh... the stuff with the little girl was solid though. but nothing can live up to that first movie, i mean, how COULD it. it's GDT doing mecha! (they should have named the mech in the first movie something else though yikes)

#nadia rambles #if you try to argue w me about something in this i will ignore you i just don't care i'm not trying to come at you #it's fine if you like predators or thought the fight choreo in black panther was the best ever i just personally was not wowed #i just need a way to put my thoughts into words and that's what tumblr is for

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